Page 62 of Boss

Chapter 14

Tarek thought to take her in to the sitting room, but he wasn’t sure of her injuries. Instead, he carried her up the stairs. She wheezed a little and that alarmed him. When he tried to look into her face, she turned away. But even in her battered state, he found her strong and determined.

“Does your chest hurt?” he asked against her ear. She was in his arms and for that moment his.

“A little,” came her soft reply. “From the seatbelt I think.”

He brought her inside his room, but stood before the bed. Her arms were around his neck when she looked into his face. Hers was so close he could see the sparks of life in her dark brown pupils.

“You’ll be okay,” he said. In that moment he wanted to reassure her. Make her hate him just a little less.

“Can you put me down please?”

He carried her over to the bed and eased her on top gently. The moment he released her from his embrace she scooted back against the pillows. He guessed he deserved her distrust. But it did hurt his pride a bit. Women didn’t recoil from his touch. And there was a time when she didn’t regard him with disgust either. Or was that all part of her game. Was she always disgusted by him and just pretending? His anger had gotten the best of him when he discovered she had infiltrated his company to destroy his family. And now he was in deep shit. She was right. This was kidnapping. No matter the consequence, it wouldn’t end well.

“About that doctor,” she said. “Please call an ambulance. I don’t feel good.”

“Show me,” he stepped toward the bed. “Where does it hurt?”

“No!” She put up her hand and scooted over to the other side of the bed. “Don’t come near me.”

He saw fear in her eyes and the wet clothes she wore from the snow. The temperature had dropped another ten degrees inside his home. It chilled them both. And the sun had almost disappeared from the sky. Soon it would be dark and even more impossible to get here.

“You’re right. I’ll call for a paramedic,” he reached in his pocket for his cell phone. It wasn’t there. Tarek patted both of his pockets. “What the fuck?”

“What? What is it?” she asked with a tremor in her voice. Earlier he had spoken to his attorney and then he heard her go out the door, and he followed. Did he put the phone down or in his pocket?

“Wait here,” he said.

“Tarek!” she called after him. He was forced to ignore the worry in her voice. He bounded back down the stairs and rushed into the sitting room. He searched the desk and the chair. He tried to remember where he put the damn phone. Why couldn’t he remember? And then he recalled her digging in his pocket for his keys. Tarek looked up to the ceiling. If she had taken the phone from him she wouldn’t be up there screaming his name. Could it have fallen in the snow when she fought him?He shook his head in confusion and went out the front door. Smoke looked up at him when he came down the steps. The horse hadn’t moved from where he left her. But snow now covered the poor animal, and the frigid air had her breathing out plumes of smoke from her flared nostrils. The snow continued to drift in from the storm clouds nearly covering their tracks from earlier, having already fallen an inch. He went back to the area he thought to be where they fought and kicked the snow around. He looked everywhere he could think and found nothing but more snow.

“Damn it! Where the hell is it?”

He glanced back to the house. Kassidy had gotten up from the bed. She stood at the window staring down at him. Their eyes locked. The accusation in hers made his gaze shift away. He’d have to try to reach the offices located inside the livestock barn and call for help. She could have internal injuries. He thought to go back inside to tell her but didn’t want to appear like a complete idiot for dropping the damn thing. Instead Tarek climbed his horse and rode it, hard and fast, out to the stables.

29.

Kassidy stood at the window and caught the image of him stomping around in the snow. When he saw her, he walked off and climbed on his horse. He rode the animal away from the house. Then he was gone. She glanced back to the bed and then to the open door of the bathroom. Where could he be going? Did he have another car? She wanted out of the nightmare he forced her into. But every time she stood, another stab of pain hit her in the head. Kassidy limped around the room in search of something, anything she could use. Besides the fire poker, there wasn’t much to offer in the form of a weapon. And even if there was something, she couldn't leverage it. Not now.

“Oh God, what have I gotten myself into?” she sighed.

30.

From the day his father brought him home from the orphanage, Tarek knew his destiny was to be Alek Marshall’s prodigy. Now he knew his destiny was this. The turning point where he decided a future that wasn’t ruled by the Marshall legacy.

Tarek climbed down off his horse and led her back inside to her heated stable. He glanced around at the other horses, and they all seemed to be in good health. That meant the keeper was making regular visits. However, he had little hope that the grounds keeper would show up during the storm.

Tarek went to the office that his managers occupied when they worked the ranch. The family not only had oil and gas rigs, but farmland as well. Once upon a time this place was the source of their wealth. Now it was a relic in testament to it. The Marshall men were cowboys in business suits now, corporate hustlers, oilmen. But as a child he loved this place.

He flipped on the light to the office and saw the phone. He picked it up and found that the line was dead. He gave the order to turn off the equipment and electricity, but it was supposed to happen when the last of his animals were moved and the place was closed for good.

“Shit!” he groaned.

31.

When Kassidy sat still the weariness of the day crashed on her. The only time she felt less achy and afraid was when she was on her feet. So she stood again and paced. The cramp in her neck and back was the most persistent. And her head felt dull, almost numb to the touch. He warned her not to sleep so she was desperate to keep alert, to persuade him to honor his promise and release her. Yet sleep pulled on her conscious mind. And she feared sleep more than she did her nightmares.

“Ow,” she groaned as she walked toward the bathroom on her toes. Inside she switched on the light to look at herself in the mirror. Two accidents later, and she expected to see a battered woman. Besides the small scar above her brow, and her frizzy hair, she didn’t look too bad.

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